Music breaking barriers

Mini-Reviews LXXXII

Japanese math rock trio Tricot just released their third album, the aptly-named 3. At over forty-five minutes long, you’re certain to have more than enough music to binge on and put on repeat for a while. The crew brings their best game, and the tunes on their newest release are fun and instantly likeable. One remark I have to make is that the songs are pretty straightforward and uninventive, and that it would be great to see them explore new territory in the future. Let’s stay in Japan, and move over to a band called Paris Death Hilton. Their debut EP, Victoria’s Shithole, came out in Autumn 2016. Their experimental rock sound relies on heavy electronics and some noise rock elements as well. It has a satisfying length for an EP, and will tell you a lot about the band’s sound. The four tracks are really good, and give off a sort of fun, party vibe, which sometimes transforms into a more grinding outpour of notes and noise. That’ a really nice EP! Born from French math rock bands Pauwels and 100% chevalier, Partout partout is a new name in the long list of awesome bands from this country. Their debut EP, Coucou, came out this week, and proves to be more than worthy of your time. The guitar and drums duo is sonically well fleshed-out for an apparently barebones lineup, and the multiple layers of guitars really help give that whole feel to it. It’s dancey, uplifting, and very energetic, and that’s enough to guarantee quite a fun time.Chrysalis is the sophomore album of Utah-based progressive metalcore band Abiogene. Despite an divisive production, the compositions, riffs, and vocals lay the groundworks for great songs. It seems the finish is somewhat rough, but that album is nevertheless solid and highly promising, given the band decides to invest time, money, or both for future releases. Go help them and donate any amount for this very good album! I was highly skeptical of Tetrafusion‘s newest album, Dreaming of Sleep. I know what impossibly high expectations can do, and the bar has been raised impressively by their previous EP, Horizons. I still don’t know if Dreaming of Sleep tops Horizons, but it’s undeniably a masterpiece of the genre. They’ve expanded the bases explored on Horizons, and added a lot of new styles and influences, while everyone in the band seems to have upped their game for the occasion. What’s more, the album is completely free on bandcamp, but consider donating a small amount if you can afford it, because the album is quite something!Ingurgitating_Oblivion‘s dissonant progressive death metal, or blackened death metal, found a new canvas with Vision Wallows in Symphonies of Light, the band’s third album. Their songs are nasty, heavy, and truly massive, as the almost hourlong album is constituted of only four tracks. They themselves compare their music with three bands, and it’s all you need in order to make a decision: Gorguts, Deathspell Omega, and Ulcerate. Now, go on.Wreche‘s debut album, Desert, comes out on May twenty-sixth. The experimental black metal duo from Los Angeles is made up of a pianist and a drummer. Yet, despite the apparent minimalism, they manage to craft some really intricate and interesting songs, filled with despair and agony. The five tracks span little more than thirty minutes, but they are unique enough that they feel much longer. It’s a really promising debut for the band, so let’s hope they keep making music at a steady rate for our own egotistical benefit.The Kraken Quartet is a peculiar group from Texas. Basically, it’s an electropercussive group, with a bunch of metallophones, bells, drums, keyboards, and some other stuff as well. Going seamlessly into post-rock, progressive rock, math rock, and electro-jazz, the quartet grabs you with the gentlest inescapable clutch there is. This is unique and truly great, and you should watch their session on Audiotree Live right away!

Terminal Degree‘s second album, Breed, just came out, and it’s my first experience with the project. The band claims to make some sort of technical progressive metal with classical instruments, and I’ve got to say it works quite well! It’s not without its flaws, obviously. The human part of the band is made of a drummer, who is also the composer, two violinists, and a bassist. The other part consists of plugins for the orchestral rhythm section, or backing band; call it what you will. That’s mostly where it hurts, because these VST tracks are quite audible and bring down the quality of the experience, sadly, as they sound quite cheap. I also suspect the drum sounds to come from virtual instruments, but I can’t be sure about it. They certainly don’t sound natural, even if they’ve been recorded acoustically (which I doubt). However, the rest of the music comes from acoustic or electric instruments. The violins do a good job of being the lead instruments and are frankly all over the place, and the bass fits its support role. Finally, the production is quite lacking, beyond what I’ve mentioned about the plugins, in that it’s clipping a lot when, for example, the two violins take the lead and come to the fore. In conclusion, it’s an interesting take on the genre that would need to be polished a lot to be a recommendation with no drawbacks.